how should i lose 20 pounds?

have you ladies (and guys!) been sucessful in losing weight? i'd like to lose 20 pounds...

i used to be very active, i have played softball and basketball since 5th grade (im going to be a junior in high school next year) up untill sophmore year.. the team began to suck, and it was all about what race you were... it was horrible, so i quit. i had full intentions of joining another team, but for some reaosn i didnt... now i just sit on my ass all day doing nothing... blah. i really need to get motivated, but i cant because i dont know how i should go about losing this weight. i think it would be benefical to my health to lose this weight (and try and keep it off) because my family has a history of diabetes.... my dad has it.and plus... i guess i'll look overall better. all of my weight is in my stomach, so i guess.. crunches and stuff? do you guys get what i mean? im not really sure where to start...

so if you guys could help me out, it would really be appreciated!

 

cardio-based workouts are the best for losing weight from what I've heard. Get a jump rope, or go running, or swimming, or find a rowing machine. Bike everywhere you go. DON'T diet, 95% of people regain the weight they lost or more on a diet... just don't eat massive quantities of junk food and make sure you take multivitamins, and you should be decent on that end. Is there a good local gym you could join?

 

For what its worth, check out a natural product called L-Carnitine. It's an amino acid that is produced by the body but not in sufficient amounts with our modern diets to counteract the effects of high carbohydrate intake (carbs neutralise the effect of L-Carnitine).

You can find it in liquid form at GNC stores in the US.

I first came across it in a gym I joined to do some aero fitness (lifecycle, stairstepper and treadmill, finishing off with a few sets of scrunches). Just taking a capful 10 minutes before starting a workout, or any physical activity for that matter, increases the fat burning effects of the workout roughly 10x.

Using the stuff, I was able to lose 5 clothing sizes in little more than 2 months of consistent gymn visits (3x per week - 1.5 hours each time). It isn't weight loss that matters but fat burning (since muscle weighs more than fat anyways).

The nice thing about it too is that it helps increase your metabolism so while you are using it and working out your energy levels will go through the roof and even after you might hit your desired body size and take a break from working out so often, maintenance exercising a couple times a week will be much easier and ensure you keep the fat from returning for far longer than it otherwise might.

Its not a drug and its not a steroid. The amino acid's function is to fan out through the body and go directly to fat cells (especially in areas not near or in any muscle groups (like those annoying lovehandle areas)) and drag them to the muscles to be burned.

So coupled with ihmurria's advice (cardio is necessary for fat burning) using this stuff will show faster results and keep you motivated to stay with it. Most of us give up after a few months of just regular workouts when the effects are only marginal.

Try it, itll impress the hell out of you. My own sister who had known me as a plump guy for most of my life couldn't recognise me when she saw me in size 33 jeans (down from size 38).

 

For me, a good mix of cardio and weights is the best. I love to mix it up and switch back and forth. But make sure you don't do too much weight or else you can bulk up at first(but muscle does burn more fat, so if you do bulk up you can even it out with cardio.) Just have fun with it, I always get bored and forget there's other things besides just running on a treadmill. I love swimming(burns more calories than every physical activity) and I practically sleep with my medicine ball. I've lost 27 lbs of my lazy weight(in 5 months) just by switching up my workout.

 

OK listen - on the subject of losing weight.

Number one - do you really need to? Most women who "need" to lose 20 lb look fine, it's that they seem to think they should look like Paris Hilton.

Number two - do you want to lose weight, or fat? You can easily lose 20lb by sweating out 20lb of water, or having a high colonic done and hosing out 8-10lb of material. Weight fluctuates +/- 5-10lb per day anyway.

Now as for fat loss, what you want is interval training.

I am not a doctor. I don't play one on TV - go talk to your own make sure you won't drop dead etc.

Wake up at oh dark thirty. Don't eat anything. PS if you're diabetic yer screwed.

Go to a track in decent track shoes. No track? Find a flat stretch of land or road.

Then you run. As if some rabid pit bull with AIDS has rape on its mind and is right behind you. For ten seconds. This is not jog, this is not run, this is oh my God there's a baby stroller about to roll onto the highway full bore full on life or death sprint.

Then you walk for a minute.

Then you run for ten seconds, same way.

Then you walk for a minute.

Start with five sets of these (it will kill you) work up to 10. Get into a gym and eat according to the glycemic index.

Take ECA and make sure your diet has all the nutrients, drink plenty of water and get ten hours sleep a night. Visit a gym and do a sensible Olympic or powerlifting program. No machines. Either a barbell (Oly) or a squat rack and a bench for bench, squat and dead.

When/if I split up with my wife the transformation will be scary.

 

Now, there will be some people wondering if they can do this but substitute a jog for a sprint, substitute no eating for a huge glass of orange juice first, etc.

You're doing this after eight to ten hours' fast because in order to get the energy to run like that, you're gonna have to get it from fat. There's nowhere else to get it from. If you have that bagel on the way out the door you might as well go back to bed, because the energy burned will be from the bagel and not the fat.

You're sprinting because you want the body to go into complete panic - flight or fight mode. That kind of serious stress causes the body to kick out growth hormone. That's why guys who squat and bench and deadlift, or clean and jerk get big strong and cut. That's also why guys to sit yakking on the cellphone on the leg press are little baby wusses.

Don't believe me? Next Olympics check out the builds on the various athletes. Note how the sprinters are muscular and fat-free? Note how the endurance runners look like anemic pigeons who can't carry their own luggage? Note how the weightlifters look like giant balls of fat with stumpy legs? (Well, in the supers anyway)

The sprinters run hard, walk it off. Run hard, walk it off run hard walk it off run hard walk it off AND THEN GO HOME. Think about it. You can't try and beat ten seconds in the hundred yards hundreds of times in a day.

And look at their builds.

Yeah, the distance runners etc. look nice but isn't it amazing how many of them die early? A diet of carbs carbs carbs and long periods of exercise like that is a killer. Ask Jim Fixx. Ask the guy who used to own Powerbar. Both died way too young.

 

Cut down on the sodas and sugary drinks. I noticed a correlation between me guzzling soda (I love Mountain Dew) over long periods and weight gain. But I guess I am sorta lucky because I tend to stabilize after a certain amount of gain.

 

Caffeine plays major malhavoc with your insulin resistance. Leave the sodas alone. Regardless of the sugar content the caffeine and sodium will wreck you. Won't stop me from drinking them but then again I don't CARE that I'm a fat bastard.

 

You've got a valid point - don't starve yourself. Note that I never said watch or count calories, just watch the glycemic index of what you eat.

 

Save yourself all the complex and non-motivational workout schedules and fad diets (which dont work, frankly). Simple aero-fitness and L-Carnitine will have all the fat burned away faster than you can imagine and well before you, like most of us, get fed up with not seeing the results you desire and give up on the process.

Personal experience from a former fat bastard myself, this stuff is a bloody marvel!

 

Does L-Carnitine really work? I need to drop 20 pounds fast I really can't stand how heavy I've gotten with this cast

 

this is the stupidest thing ive ever heard...please peacelovebarefeet take her advice and don't listen to her.

 

Well it blew me away. I spent most of my post pubescent life pudgy and finally a few years back I decided to join a gym and get serious about slimming down. Started doing three nights a week just doing aero-fitness as described in first post and using the L-Carnitine, as I also mentioned previously, I lost 5 clothing sizes worth of fat in just over 2 months. Never before had I had either the rapidly noticeable results to keep my motivation levels up or the energy levels and heightened metabolism to sustain that fit state with only moderate less frequent maintenance exercise thereafter.

All I can say is try it for yourself, I am almost certain youll see the same effects and swear to it.

Just be aware that in its role as a fat transporter, it wont discriminate on fat cells so females can experience breast size reduction as they slim down to their desired figure.

Also, I recommend the liquid version. The capsules dont seem to have the same absoprtion rate into the blood stream. Take a capful 10 minutes before you start any workout (I used to take it while i was changing into my trunks in the locker room).

Let me know how it works for ya! (love a good shared testimonial)

 

I didn't read through the thread but I bet I'm not the only one that said that because you aren't exercising you gained the weight.
You need to find something that you like to do that is aerobic if you also have a muscle toning thing either built in or that you do too that is even better. I lost 30 pounds mostly by cycling. That isn't for everyone I know but it is a good way of doing it. It is easy to build on without much more thought. Just ride harder or ride longer or both.

Once you get your metabolism reved up it gets to the point where you don't feel right if you aren't doing the activity you have chosen.

 

i say just walk (or jog or run) it doesn't cost anything, and you can do it anywhere.

I went to a local park (nice hilly area) and lost about 10 lbs (but it looked like i lost more) in two months. It's probably not the fastest way to lose weight, but i haven't done it in 5 months (i got pregnant and lost my motivation), and i still haven't gained back the weight, lol.

I also gave up soda and chips. If you consume either of these things and stop, you'll be saving yourself a ton of calories, and not be losing any nutrition.

 

As I said before, ya wanna lose weight, that's easy. Wanna lose fat, do what I suggest.

 

This thread has inspired me to start my juice fast again I lost 3 pounds of pure fat (7 all together) in three days and started my second round this afternoon. I can't excercise for at least another month so although its something im not good at i just have to watch what i eat. it sucks i was always very thin untill i turned 19 and i never got used to carrying the extra weight and so need to lose it or i know im going to let myself go and gain more.

 

Hmmm...sounds like a good deal to me babyfreak1988. I need to lose 20 pounds as well!

 

well.... thanks for all the suggestions guys!

i have a pool in my backyard, i never thought about actually using it non-lesuirely.. lol

here's my plan (i think):

1) since i am a BIG fan of soda, im going to first switch to diet, and eventually cut it out of my diet completely (more or less completely)...

2) im gunna try and swim an hour or an hour and a half every day... HARD swimming too, not the layin-on-the-raft-trying-to-get-a-tan workout.. lol

3) im gunna try and UP my water intake... i chew on ice constantly because i have constant dry mouth... i dont really like water by itself, so i chew on ice.. lol. but im gunna try and drink more water.



so what do you guys think? i wanna lose the weight around my middle, will swimming do that? or should i swim one day, and then switch, the next day doing like 500 crunches or something??

thanks so much again for you suggestions guys...

oh and lickHERish.... where can i find this L-Carnitine? its safe for younger people, isnt it? im 17...

 

Peace, as I said in my first post, you can find at GNC natural food stores in the US or so I'm told. Go with the liquid version rather than tablets (I believe you can find other tablet-based products which have minimal amounts of L-Carnitine at Walgreens but Ifound they didnt really work as well.

And of course, you do need to do the aero-fitness (or aerobic exercise as some call it). Getting the heart rate up is essential to fat burning.

http://www.gnc.com/productDetails.aspx?id=350752&lang=en

read some more about it here (2nd paragraph)

http://www.gnc.com/glossary/default.aspx?id=L&lang=en